Monday, May 15, 2006

Crossroads, Part II: Task Force Evergreen Vote

How will the Task Force vote on the Evergreen proposal for the Don Valley Brick Works? It is not a simple answer. Let me go through the possible outcomes. The Task Force could:

vote to approve of the proposal,

vote to oppose the proposal,

decide to do nothing,

approve the proposal conditionally

You would think it would be a simple thing to approve the proposal. Everybody's happy, right? Not so. Some people only like parts of the proposal and they say that if the Task Force approves it then Evergreen could publicize the Task Force's approval of the plan as a carte blanche approval of everything they are doing.

If the Task Force votes to oppose the plan then they risk the possibility of losing any influence on future changes. Support from the Task Force is a 'nice to have' for Evergreen but it is not required. They could just decide to politely ignore us from this point on. Then where would we be? (The Task Force has been here before by the way. In 2004 they voted to oppose trail management for mountain biking in Crothers' Woods. The city continued on despite the Task Force's position and the Task Force was left in a weaker position. But this is another story).

The Task Force could opt to take no position. Doing nothing may in fact be a good position to take, even if that sounds kind of weird. By opting to do nothing we can continue to monitor the situation and advise the city about issues, something we may not be able to do if we were to vote for or against it.

Actually, I favour conditionally approving it. A motion crafted to say (In effect) "Yes, the Evergreen plan is the best plan so far, but it has some flaws with which we still have issues. So Evergreen, please proceed, but we will be watching." Of course you can't word a motion like that. It will take some council-speak to translate that one.

So there you have it - the 'Evergreen proposal' situation in a nutshell. The debate on this motion might actually be interesting so it might be worthwhile attending just to watch. All of our meetings are a matter of public record so anyone is able to attend. We even accept comments from the peanut gallery now and then. If you are interested, the meeting will be held on Wednesday, May 17, 7:00 PM in Committee Room 2, at City Hall, 100 Queen St. West. The agenda is available online if you are curious.

Unfortunately, yours truly won't be there (I am taking my girlfriend out for her birthday). However, River Rat should be there so maybe I will make her write "Crossroads, Part III".

About Me

I am a member of the Don Council. I was a member of Task Force to Bring Back the Don. I often tour the Don on my bicycle and take photos of whatever interests me.
Have a question about the Don? Send me an email to: donwatcher(at)gmail.com or follow me on Facebook, look for Don Watcher.